This invention relates to an ink pressurizing apparatus for an ink jet recorder wherein means for applying static pressure to the ink held in an ink storage partly formed of elastic material consists of a plunger mechanism for pressing said elastic material from the outside of said ink storage.
An ink jet recorder is customarily provided with a separate apparatus or mechanism for ejecting ink in fine particles under a constant pressure from the tip of a nozzle of the recorder so as to effect printing, using an electrostatic, electromagnetic or supersonic wave force in pressurizing the ink. A requisite condition for good printing is to deliver ink to the nozzle tip with a uniform pressure. To this end, there is generally used a rotary pump whose operating capacity can be minutely adjusted. Other ink-feeding means include a pump made of elastic material. However, such means is of complicated construction and becomes unavoidably bulky, and moreover is primarily intended to conduct ink throughout its passageway under pressure, instead of pressurizing ink particularly at the nozzle tip as in the present invention.
It is therefore the object of this invention to provide a compact ink pressurizing apparatus of simple construction for an ink jet recorder, which has eliminated the problems raised with the complicated and minute structure of the prior art ink pressurizing apparatus and is most adapted to deliver ink to the nozzle tip with a small uniform pressure. However, the prior art ink jet recorder has the drawbacks that the separate apparatus or mechanism for pressurizing the ink is driven with a force obtained by converting the rotating moment of a motor to a linear motion, or by providing a solenoid near the nozzle, thus rendering the recorder as a whole very bulky, presenting difficulties in controlling the pressure applied to the ink and eventually resulting in the high cost of the recorder.
It is accordingly the object of this invention to provide an ink pressurizing apparatus of simple, compact construction which is free from the aforesaid drawbacks and most adapted to apply static pressure to the ink toward the tip of a nozzle.